# Two mothers, two daughters
# 1
It was already after midnight when my phone rang. It was Sharon, so I picked up.
"Hello," I said, while trying to find my glasses on the nightstand.
"Hi honey, did I wake you?"
"No," I lied.
"Alex was in an accident," she said, her voice marbled with fear.
"Is she alright?"
"No, she is in the hospital, they called me."
Alex was Sharon's teenage daughter, from her first marriage. I didn't know what to say.
"I am still here in Washington,.." Sharon began.
"I am so sorry sweetie. What do you need?"
"Could you go to the hospital? Keep me informed?"
"Of course. Text me the address, I can go now."
"Thank you Mike, I know, you didn't want to get involved.."
"Sharon, don't. I'll call you later."
Finally I found my glasses and after I pushed them on my face, I could see clearer. Without much thinking I slipped into the sweatpants and hoodie, that I had worn the day before. Downstairs I panicked for a second, where were the damn car keys? Just when I already was out of the house, looking for an Uber, I found them in the jacket I had grabbed. The car flashed it's lights as it acknowledged me and inside, I looked at my phone, Sharon had send the address, it was a 30 minute drive. I started the engine and send Sharon a short message before heading out of the gate, that guarded the Miller residence.
It was a Tuesday, actually a Wednesday already, and there was almost no traffic. I reached the hospital, parked my car and made it to the reception.
"Hi, I'm looking for Alex Miller," I said to the nurse, who looked friendly enough.
"Are you a family member?" she asked.
"No, look her mother is my..," I began, and then decided to shortcut it. "I am her step-father."
"Only family members." She pointed to a laminated leaflet on the desk, listing the visitation rules.
"No exceptions?" I asked.
She shook her head, "Sorry."
I looked around as if someone could help me somehow here in the hospital reception area, with those yellowish floors and naked walls, as the nurse watched me. The sliding doors opened to the dark outside and for a moment I irrationally hoped that it would be Sharon, here to remove my obstacle, but of course it was not her.
It was a woman in a short black leather jacket that she wore over a black body-hugging dress with red polka dots on it. Her long hair was black as well. For a split second she looked irritated to me, before she hurried to the reception desk behind me, her heels clicked loud on the floor. I could smell her perfume as she went past me.
"Good evening," she said with a smile, "My name is Gabriella Martinez. I am the mother of Rosa Martinez. You called me."
The nurse pulled up a sign-in sheet and gave her a pen. I called Sharon.
"Hi, I am at the hospital, but the nurse won't let me see her."
"Let me talk to her." Sharon said.
I went to desk again and offered the nurse my phone.
"It's the mother," I said.
The nurse looked at me, then took the phone and after she had said the name of the hospital, she went silent. I watched her face as it changed with every second, from bored to wide awake. She checked something in her computer.
"Yes Mrs. Miller, of course Mrs. Miller." the nurse said finally, and then five seconds later, "Goodbye Mrs. Miller."
She gave me my phone back, the call had ended already, and began to fill out a sign-in sheet.
"Your name?" she asked.
"Mike Markson"
"Mr. Markson, I signed you in, please go to the waiting area, a doctor will be with you shortly."
I thanked the nurse and headed towards the door the nurse had pointed me to. My sneakers squeaked on the spotless floor as I moved through the long empty hallway and the smell of disinfectant was rich in the air. I found the waiting area and sat down on one of the surprisingly comfortable chairs, pulled out my phone and send Sharon an update again.
I wondered how Sharon had turned the nurse around in such a short time, no exceptions my ass.
Sharon was such a strong woman, extremely successful in her job as an executive for one of those Silicon Valley companies. But she didn't do well if something wasn't going her way, I just hoped that Alex would be ok. Her daughter was her weak spot, she had spoilt her and Alex didn't give a fuck about anything, but herself. A typical shitty, rich kid.
Sometimes I asked myself, what would have happened to me, if I had been born with a golden spoon in my mouth. A better education definitely. Open doors to everything. Would I have become spoiled as well, with the same worthless attitude as Alex?
But I wasn't born rich, I couldn't go college. I wasted years bar-tending, while trying to get a start as a writer. I wanted to write socio-critical novels in grand historical settings, but the only thing I could get published was cheesy romance, smut. The ones with the bare chested man on the cover, holding a fainting woman in his arms. Sometimes there was a horse on the cover as well. I had to pump out two of those babies per year, just to keep me above water.
Until I had met Sharon. It was an relationship that didn't follow the typical gender roles, in fact, it was the opposite. She earned all the money and I was her trophy boyfriend. Pretty early on, she had told me that she wouldn't marry me, she would never open a joint bank account. But she gave me a credit card, an expensive car, I lived in her gated mansion with all the amenities, and at night, when she shared her bed with me, I made sure she was reminded why.
And in contrast to the rest of her life, where she took control and dominated, she found the most pleasure in bed, if someone else took the lead. She wanted to get fucked hard and rough, she needed me to stuff her mouth with my dick and use her body ruthlessly. And I loved it. She was thirty-five for a few years now, but she kept fit, took good care of her amazing body and when she came, she sounded like someone who got paid to fake it.
I made sure to keep her happy and slowly she had allowed herself to trust me. She had taken me to her company retreat the year before, presented me to her colleagues, and asking me to help her with Alex was something neither of us had wanted, but it would move our relationship to a different level.
"Mrs. Martinez, Mr. Miller?" somebody called.
I looked up. A young guy, at least younger than me, stood next to the water dispenser. His clothes and the stethoscope around his neck meant he was a doctor. I wasn't Mr. Miller, but close enough.
From the other end of the room came the woman I had seen at the reception.
We approached the man.
"Mrs. Martinez, Mr. Miller?" he asked again.
I nodded and then the woman in the leather jacket and I exchanged a short look.
"Hi, I am Dr. Patel. Alex and Rosa were in a car accident," he said. "There are some broken bones and both have concussions, but at the moment everything looks okay, I don't expect anything serious. We treated them and gave them painkillers, but we would like to keep them over night for observation."
"Thank you doctor," I said.
"Can I see her?" Mrs. Martinez asked the doctor.
"Only a few minutes, they need to rest. I'll have a nurse take you to the room. Anything else?"
"Do you know how it happened?" I asked.
"As far as I know, their car hit a tree. Luckily they wore seat-belts. That's all I can say at the moment."